By Bev Johnson

Master Gardener

It may be a very dry summer. There are a few tricks gardeners can do to keep their garden flourishing without watering every day.

Start saving liter bottles. Cut out the neck and put it upside down in the bottle. This makes it easier to fill. Poke a few small holes in the bottom and plant the bottle about half- way down next to a plant.  Keep it filled with water and add a bit of liquid fertilizer occasionally. A water filled 5-gallon pail with holes in the bottom will keep 3 tomato or potato plants happy all summer. This works great for watering trees and shrubs too. Occasionally you will find a critter drowned in the pail. They attempted to get a drink and fell in. Perhaps they can be dug in for fertilizer?  For row crops, leave the cap on and poke holes in the sides. You will need to pick up the bottle to fil it. There are spiked caps with a hole in the top for liter bottles available. You fill the bottle, put the cap on and poke the spike into the soil beside your plant.

Mulching is a must in any weather, it not only keeps moisture from evaporating in the heat, it keeps the soil cooler and smothers weeds. Start by laying 4 to 6 sheets of damp newspaper or cardboard between the rows, then cover with hay, leaves or leaves and grass mixed. Green grass will heat and stink. Straw can be great, but it also can introduce weeds that you have never seen before and will never get rid of.

A few other tips:  tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and tomatillos are first cousins. Never plant one in the spot a cousin has been in in the last 3 years. And never plant the same plants in the same place each year. You are just asking for diseases. Have a garden map to avoid this problem.

If you want larger onions that keep well, plant plants. Onion sets are great for onions to use all summer, but they usually don’t keep as well as the ones from plants.

If you plan to freeze or can a crop. For tomatoes, plant determinate plants. They bear all at once then stop. Pull them up when they stop producing and plant something else there. Bush beans do pretty much the same thing. For a longer harvest, plant pole beans, indeterminate tomatoes, cabbages, and broccoli. If you cut either of these plants off, they will produce another, smaller head on the stem.  Another trick to get a longer growing season of vine crops, buy a plant, like squash or melon. Direct seed the same plant about a week later. The plant will produce first, then several weeks later, the seeded plant. 

Plant lettuce and other leafy vegetables in the shade of corn.  Plant beets on the other side of the greens. This will lengthen the time before the greens bolt. Always plant corn in blocks to ensure pollination. The wind does the job for them even if we have a shortage of bees and flies.

Some summer days are just icky, no wind, humid and hot. Even our plants don’t like that kind of weather. It leads to sick plants. Don’t crowd plants, give them breathing space. Air circulation is important for all plants. It prevents mold and mildew and keeps diseases and disease-carrying insects from hopping from one to another making all of the group sick.

Get out the seed packets and start planning. Planting season will happen.